Fluoridation a 78-Year-Old Blunder

Seventy-eight years ago, on January 25, 1945, dentists convinced government officials to experiment on all Grand Rapids, Michigan, residents to prove that (not if) dosing the public’s water supply with untested sodium-fluoride chemicals would make children's developing teeth cavity-free. It ended prematurely, control city was fluoridated, promoted with PR, and evidence of harm ignored or untested.

Planned to last 15 years, the 1945 study ended prematurely after 6 ½ years.  Teeth of most children born into the experiment hadn't even erupted yet. Muskegon, the non-fluoridated comparison or control city began fluoridating its water in 1951; thereby, negating the experiment.

An American Dental Association (ADA) news release reported, "many communities did not wait for the studies to be completed before starting their own fluoridation efforts.  By 1950, [fluoridation] had the full support of the ADA." This support came without any safety evidence.  

Grand Rapids citizens' health was untested. But Newburgh NY's healthy schoolchildren were examined in another 1945 human experiment, also cut short prematurely. Newburgh kids suffered more bone defects, anemia and earlier female menstruation after 10 years (Journal of the American Dental Association, 1956). These findings were dismissed.

In 1951, dentists strategized ("Proceedings 4^th annual conference of state dental directors") on how to sell fluoridation using  misinformation and misdirection e.g. "We have told the public it works, so we can't go back on that." And "those research people, they can't get over their feeling that you have to have test tube and animal research before you start applying it to human beings."

Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, promoted fluoridation, consulting on strategy for the National Institute of Dental Research. "Selling fluoride was child's play," Bernays told the author of The Fluoride Deception. Bernays said citizens trust medical authority. So Bernays fooled doctors to believe in fluoridation – a tactic used by today fluoridation PR flacks.

Chemical & Engineering News reported: "Rational voices of opposition were suppressed from the start.”  Science justified those fears. Fluoride isn't a nutrient or required for healthy teeth and has serious side effects, rendering fluoridation unnecessary and harmful.

Fluoridation is celebrated  ignoring strong fluoride/brain links, 100 years of damning fluoride/kidney & thyroid research and that cavity experience and inequities increased in the last 20 years despite widespread fluoridation contributing to US children's fluoride-damaged teeth- dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow splotched teeth afflicting 70% of US children and adolescents).

Instead of putting themselves out of business as predicted 78 years ago, fluoridation has created a new lucrative market for cosmetic dentistry http://tinyurl.com/DentalFluorosisBeforeAfter

Babies Most Vulnerable to Fluoride's Neurotoxic Effects

As of Jul7 2022, 76 studies found fluoride lowers IQ -  23 published since 2017  The fetus and formula fed infants are the most vulnerable to fluoride's neurotoxicity. 

These studies are the basis of a current lawsuit against the US EPA which could end the artificial fluoridation program in the US to protect the brains of the fetus and babies. The next court date is October 26, 2022. Counsel for the plaintiffs is Michael Connett, JD, Partner, Waters Kraus & Paul. 

Fluoride from foods and beverages consumed during pregnancy is associated with lower cognitive neurodevelopment in boy babies, even when fluoride is ingested at recommended levels, report researchers Cantoral et al. in Neurotoxicology (December 2021) and funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

Fluoride's adverse neurological effects are backed by hundreds of animal and cell studies.

Few know that fluoride, besides being added to many public water supplies, is in foods and beverages at varying and inconsistent levels – either naturally or from fluoridated pesticides; fluoridated water used in processing; feed regimen of animal products; food storage containers (Teflon-coated containers); and food packaging (migration of perfluorochemicals into food). Too much fluoride is health-harming and indisputable. Topical fluoride application also invites some absorption into the bloodstream.

“Specifically, a 0.5 mg increase in dietary fluoride intake during the third trimester and across pregnancy was associated with a 3.10-points and 3.46-point lower cognitive score in boys, respectively,” reports Cantoral’s team.

“Fluoride is not an essential nutrient and…fluoride ingestion in pregnancy does not strengthen enamel during tooth formation in the fetus but has been associated with increased risk of neurotoxicity, even at optimal exposure levels,” they write.

Prominent scientists proclaim “It is time to protect kids’ developing brains from fluoride”

Cantoral’s team writes that “The National Toxicology Program concluded that fluoride is ‘presumed to be a cognitive developmental hazard to humans’ based upon a growing body of high-quality epidemiological studies conducted in endemic and non-endemic fluorosis areas.”

“These findings suggest that the development of nonverbal abilities in males may be more vulnerable to prenatal fluoride exposure than language or motor abilities, even at levels within the recommended intake range,” they write.

After 77 years of water fluoridation, 70% of US children and adolescents are fluoride-overdosed and afflicted with dental fluorosis (white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth) while tooth decay remains a US epidemic.

SCIENTISTS WHO CAUTION THAT FLUORIDE CAN DAMAGE BABIES' DEVELOPING BRAINS

Experts who testified in the US Federal Lawsuit  Case No. 17-CV-02162-EMC, challenging water fluoridation safety, that's set to continue in September 2022, include:

 

1) Kathleen M. Thiessen, Ph.D. a risk assessment scientist at Oak Ridge Center for Risk Analysis in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

   

Dr. Thiessen testified that “The animal data on fluoride neurotoxicity are consistent with the epidemiological data in showing a risk of cognitive deficits at doses of fluoride ingested from fluoridated water.”

 

2) A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Phillipe Grandjean is on the faculty of Harvard University and the University of Southern Denmark. He’s received multiple awards throughout his long career for his research on the effects of environmental toxins affecting children and has also been recognized for his advocacy in protecting future generations from the effects of neuro- and developmental toxins.

 

Dr. Grandjean testified that "… there is little doubt that developmental neurotoxicity is a serious risk associated with elevated fluoride exposure, whether due to community water fluoridation, natural fluoride release from soil minerals, or tea consumption, especially when the exposure occurs during early development."

 

3) Dr. Howard Hu, from the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, has led international research teams investigating the environmental, nutritional, social, and epi/genetic causes of chronic disease and impaired child development in the USA, Mexico, India, China, and elsewhere around the world.

 

Dr. Hu advises pregnant women and infants to avoid fluoride ingestion to assure normal brain development (Journal of Pediatrics “Current Best Evidence,” July 2020). He wrote, "Fluoride is not essential for growth and development, a cautious step could be avoidance of fluoridated products and water by women during pregnancy and by infants during the first 6 months of life."

 

4) Dr. Lanphear is on the faculty at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where his research focuses on preventing common diseases and disabilities in children, as well as quantifying the impact of risk factors to children’s health including exposures to heavy metals and chemicals.

 

An Op-Ed by Dr. Lanphear; Linda Birnbaum, PhD, Former Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; and Christine Till, PhD, co-author of the JAMA-Pediatrics research article “Association Between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada”  wrote:

 

“Mounting evidence suggests fluoride may be hampering brain development and reducing kids' IQ. The US needs to rethink this exposure for pregnant women and children.”

 

 

JAMA Pediatrics Journal editor Dimitri Christakis, MD, said. “I would advise them [pregnant women] to drink bottled water or filtered water because it is not a particularly odious thing to do and actually does reduce the risk,” in a discussion of the JAMA Pediatrics fluoride/IQ study.

 

Fluoridation was declared safe for 75 years. “Yet, studies conducted in North America examining the safety of fluoride exposure in pregnancy were nonexistent,” write Till and Green in “Controversy: The evolving science of fluoride: when new evidence doesn’t conform with existing beliefs.” Till and Green both advise pregnant women to avoid fluoride.

 

Dr. Till's youtube presentation about her research which garnered intense scrutiny before being published in JAMA-Pediatrics is here: 

 

EPA scientists, in a recent research paper, write "Fluoride was observed to have the greatest increase in impacting cognitive ability and it is often reported to affect memory and cause cognitive deficits."  (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 2020) 

 

 

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